India is currently playing a 4 match series in Australia. The first match was postponed after young Australian batsman Phil Hughes tragically died after getting hit in the head while playing in a warm up game.

So when the series started about 2 weeks late to allow for Phil's funeral and players to mourn, this is what happened on the first ball when the Indian captain came out to bat - LINK. Suffice to say, everyone was shaken, including the bowler.

This post was edited on 12/11/14 at 1:48 pm

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Posted by DestrehanTiger

Houston, TX by way of Louisiana

Member since Nov 2005

12470 posts

Posted on 12/11/14 at 1:55 pm to stendulkar

Maybe I just don't get cricket, but I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be looking for in their reaction. Is it supposed to be odd that they all checked on the batter?

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Posted by Teddy Ruxpin

Member since Oct 2006

39582 posts

Posted on 12/11/14 at 2:01 pm to stendulkar

Even though I don't know what is going on, I still read all these cricket threads. Keep up the good work.

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Posted by stendulkar

Member since Aug 2012

767 posts

Posted on 12/11/14 at 2:08 pm to DestrehanTiger

quote:
Maybe I just don't get cricket, but I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be looking for in their reaction. Is it supposed to be odd that they all checked on the batter?

Yes, usually when you try to hit a batsman on the body or the head, it is an intimidation tactic, hoping that after you soften him up with a few blows, you can lure him into a mistake. In the past when batters got hit and if it was obvious that he wasn't seriously hurt, they would just trash talk him and play mental games. However recent events have left everyone on the edge and it makes them go check up on the other team's batter if he gets hit.

To give a football analogy, let's assume a football player died on the field after a big legal hit. Nothing malicious, just pure bad luck. Obviously players will be nervous about going for another big hit the next time around. But when that inevitably happens, instead of celebrating the big hit, the defender immediately goes up to check on the receiver or the running back to make sure he is okay without trying to celebrate (which if not for the recent death of the player, they probably would have followed up with some trash talk)...something along those lines.

This post was edited on 12/11/14 at 2:11 pm

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Posted by tsmi136

Baton Rouge

Member since Feb 2011

3905 posts

Posted on 12/11/14 at 2:14 pm to stendulkar

But the guy ducked his head into the ball? And he's standing in front of the wickets...

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Posted by AngryBeavers

Member since Jun 2012

4554 posts

Posted on 12/11/14 at 2:16 pm to stendulkar

Those helmets look shitty. Why not get better helmets?

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Posted by stendulkar

Member since Aug 2012

767 posts

Posted on 12/11/14 at 2:31 pm to tsmi136

quote:
But the guy ducked his head into the ball? And he's standing in front of the wickets..

Yes, it wasn't a ball that was 100% aimed for the head...those are easy to spot and obvious...this ball was more shoulder height. I think what happened is that the batter was probably nervous facing the first ball and just got into an awkward position, took his eyes of the ball, ducked into it and ended up getting hit on the head.

Just some trivia, the batter, Virat Kohli, is no slouch though. He is one of the best young batters currently playing world cricket. He went on to bat almost the entire day and ended up scoring a 115 runs; he just had a bad start. Crossing the 100 run mark is a pretty big deal and most batters struggle to do it more than 30 times in their entire career. He is cricket's version of Andrew Luck....destined for greatness.

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